TW The Magus Chronicles Oil Paint and Still Life
by Omega696
Summary: Teen Wolf The Magus Chronicles - Oil Paint and Still life. A supplimentry story to volume one. Damion has decided to paint something for Derek, trying to tie the old and the new together. A Picture of what was, and a Picture of what is.


**World 1698: Teen Wolf**

**Oil paints and still life's**

**/AN/**

**This was inspired by LowLifeTheoryt and Boy-on-Strings after we got talking about Derek and Life modeling.**

**This one is a little meloncholy but there is a funny moment or two inside.**

**This is part of the TeenWolfArt meme that we seem to have kicked off.**

**I own nothing excpt for Damion and the Rhys Hale.  
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**Enjoy.**

**Omega.**

**/AN/  
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Magus checked the door once more to make sure that it was locked, satisfied he turned back to the box he had placed on the floor marked 'Stuff'. Opening it he was faced with the photos and documents that had been saved from the Hale house before the construction crews had come in to start work on the rebuild.

He smiled to himself as he saw the younger face of Derek, his mate and partner, smiling easily back at him from captured moments from a different life. He snorted as he came across what looked like a posed team picture; it was just Derek in lacrosse kit. He must have played on the team when he was Scott and Jackson's age. What would the Pups say if they found this picture of their scowling Alpha in a uniform not too far from one they wore? It did make him more determined to get Derek one for his birthday so he could be the naughty lacrosse captain, and Damion could be the stern coach.

He put the photo down and tried in vain to get himself under control.

Returning to the photos after a while he began to route through them for specific people. There were Derek's parents in one, it looked like they were walking in the woods and someone had taken a candid shot of them holding hands and just talking.

Peter hale, now there was a thorny issue to include him or not... the man he was should be celebrated, not the man he would become "Oh" Damion said to himself as he found one of Peter and a woman they were dressed in wedding attire. On the back it said Peter and Angela; turning back he saw the smiles and the happiness of the picture.

Laura, there were several of young Laura, but that wasn't the Laura that he want to put into it. He wanted the Laura that Derek had know, the Alpha Laura, he could remember some of the photos from the crime scene so he could knew how she grew up, he could use that knowledge with this one of her with her arm over Derek's shoulders. The one that said that she was supporting her little brother.

He continued to route through the photos choosing photos of a family he would never get to know that had been part of his mate's life for so long. Then he stopped and stared at a picture, he could feel the tears running down his face and he moved the photos so that they wouldn't get splashed. It was a photo of a birthday party. Derek seemed to be a birthday boy and was surrounded by siblings and cousins with the older Hales in the background. He turned it over and read the inscription 'Derek's thirteenth birthday, August tenth.' Under it was a list of names that he could place with names and dates that were inscribed on a black granite block that was set in a remembrance garden.

Derek, Laura, Shane, Anthony, Jules, Kara, Daniel, Carly, Rhys. Rhys was the name that hurt the most. He was the name that had the fewest years on the granite. Rhys Hale five years old, he would be about as old as the Pups down stairs if he had lived. Would he have been friends with them if he had lived? Damion looked at the photo again and saw a gentle caring humour in Rhys as he held a plate for Derek to put the first slice of cake on it. The boy looked like a mini Derek, and obviously idolised his older sibling.

He set those pictures next to ones from the current pack and wiped his eyes with the heel of his hands. He needed to get started if he was going to be finished in time.

Standing up and taking the photos over to the easel that was set up with a large canvas stretched over the frame. He had primed it and it was now waiting for him to start. He looked at the photos and carefully he pinned them up to a sheet of particle board that had pictures of the Hale house on it. He was careful that the tack's only held the photos by support rather than damaging them with holes.

He took his charcoal he began to sketch onto the canvas, creating on the page in two dimensions a world that had to hold so many memories and feelings. The house was central to the picture, surrounding it was the forest was an easy choice, when to set it though, what was the season for this picture. Not winter when all was dead, nor Spring or Summer when life was growing. It had to be Autumn, Autumn when the year remembers the past and looks towards a cold time and then rebirth. That was the right time for this. So piles of leaves were added to the ground where they had been swept or blown by winds that held a chill to them.

He added clouds to the sky, heavy with snow, but holding the first snow fall for just a little longer. Damion began to sketch the family, starting with the Alpha pair, then adding Derek and Laura, Peter and Angela. Soon the Hale family was looking at him. He traced their faces and felt a shadow of the loss that Derek did every day.

He picked up his pallet and began to prepare the oils, it was almost cathartic to take the oils and squeeze them out on the board, organise them into hues and colours taking care not to put them to close so they wouldn't accidently mix. He put a jar on the side and filled it with turp's and water to clean his brushes, the liquid was clear, almost waiting for something to happen, soon it would be cloudy and opaque as it captured strokes of the painting that had been laid down and to ready the brushes for the next.

He paused as he was about to make the first stroke and his old masters words came back to him. "You must feel what you are about to put on the canvas, you are not slapping on paint to a plaster wall any fool can do that. What you are doing is applying memories and feelings given form so they capture a moment in time for all of time. Even if the scene only exists in your head you are about to capture that for eternity!" Leonardo had a way with words that made you stop and approach something with a reverence to what was about to happen.

He was also a raving madman, man-iser, was that even a word, and a renaissance party animal! Damion recalled another time when he was painting a scene commissioned by a Baron and Leonardo felt disinclined to paint. "No, no, no, no, no, your cherubs look like fat pink plums with wings. How can you master the skills of a painter, when every time you do a cherub it looks like the fruit bowl fell onto your canvas? Your nude men, they are passable works, I have spent many an hour lusting after them... Looking at them, but without the cherubs it is nothing! Bah... I am tired of this now. Take me drinking; I want a sea of men to drown me in vino!" Leonardo made for the door grabbing his cloak and pinning a sign that said 'Sowing wild oats' to the door. "Now Magus, Francesco finishes soon and I promised him many delights!" Magus had shook his head laughing and grabbed his own cloak and follow Leonardo Da Vinci to the local tavern.

Damion stretched and stood back from the painting, he looked out the window and realised that it was dark outside. Looking at his watch he realised that he had been at the painting for most of the day. It was coming along well, another few sessions like this and he would have something that would almost be presentable.

..oo00OO00oo..

Damion took the canvas from the floor and secured it into the easel. The first picture was finished and was drying out before he applied the coats of varnish to seal the picture. He looked at the pictures he had added to the particle board and smiled as he looked at his Pups and his Pack.

Scott and Stiles were goofing around in one shot. They seemed to be trying to build a tower out of Oreo biscuits, well Scott was trying to build it, and Stiles was busy eating them.

Jackson and Derek were sparring, Jackson was trying to learn a new move and Derek was guiding him through it. The level of concentration was etched on Jackson face, Derek's expression was one of calm understanding as he helped the Beta.

The next one was a shot from the security system of Danny and Lydia in the library. They were both standing in front of a large screen and arguing about what was a better algorithm. They were both gesturing wildly, while the others were sitting like they were watching the TV or at the movies.

The next one was another shot from the security system. It was the target range and the Pups were gathered round as Allison was explaining how to use one of the ranged weapons. Stiles had become distracted and ended up pointing the gun towards his Pack mates. They had started to duck and Allison was driving across the camera field to grab the gun.

Allison and Scott were facing away from the camera; they were sitting in Scott's favourite tree on his usual thinking branch. They were sitting with their legs swinging as they watched the sunset. Allison's head was on Scott's shoulder and Scott had his arm wrapped around her waist.

Danny and Stiles were in the kitchen and the surface was full of bowls and cases and tins as the pair were baking. They had been at it for a while and there was a pile of cupcakes on one arm of the counter to cool off. Stiles was grinning at Danny who was trying to trying to figure out why he was laughing, meanwhile Danny's nose and forehead had a trail of flower from where Danny had wiped rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. If you looked to the far side of the photo, it appeared that there were three sets of glowing eyes, two gold sets and one steel in the utility room looking at the cupcakes.

Lydia and Jackson were sitting on the swings at a park. They looked like they were talking, and while not full of passion, they both looked comfortable with each other. Jackson was reaching out to take Lydia's hand, and she had her hand open to receive it.

The final one was Derek and Damion sitting at a restaurant table. They were clasping hands over the candle in the middle of the table. They had just finished dessert, and were drinking the coffee that had come with the bussing of the table. The look that the other was giving there dining companion was one of peace and calmness and love.

Damion carried on sketching, the piles of leaves were semi cleared away and flowers were bursting through the soils and starting to bloom and show the promise of new life. The sun was high in the sky and there were no clouds in the sky. He started to draw and sketch in the members into the painting. He drew the boys styled after a sports team photo capturing their youthful energy and spirit. The girls stood on either side of him and Derek and were making contact with their mates, as was Danny and Stiles. These people were more aware of the pains in the world, but here they were supporting the others and showing that they were all connected as a family despite not being blood realted.

Slowly as the hours ticked away the painting began to take shape.

..oo00OO00oo..

Damion stood back from the finished works, both were now framed and ready to be taken over to the Hale house which was finally done and decorated after he had ambushed Derek into making decorating choices. He took some time to consider the work and to see if they had fulfilled the idea that he had had to start with.

This first one was an autumn scene, the leaves were reds and golds and oranges that suffused the scene with warmth. It was fuller than the second and all of Derek's family were there, well as many as Damion could find reference for, smiling and laughing and together. Laura as the adult she had become with her arm drape round Derek's shoulders, standing next to his Father and mother. Derek's siblings and cousins arrayed around them, even Rhys, Derek's youngest bother looking so much like Derek as a boy as everyone always commented on the photos. Peter and is mate Angela who Damion had found out in the papers in the box, had been killed by hunters when Derek was about five. The other Aunts and Uncles were there as well all grouped around the main family. All of them were looking out at Damion and smiling and laughing and so full of life he could feel it if he tried, not one of them holding a look of blame of anger, just love and comfort.

The second painting was done in vibrant spring colours, and the scenes of rebirth were as flowers began to bloom were evident. Derek was in the middle, the position that Derek's father had in the other painting. Derek's trademark frown had been replaced with a smile like the one had started to wear around Damion. Damion stood next to him and his arm was interwoven with his. Then to either side of them were Lydia and Allison, at the front crouching down like a team photo were Scott, Jackson, Danny and Stiles. Scott was in front of Allison and she had her hand linked to his over his shoulder, Danny and Stiles were holding hands and Jackson was crouched in front of Lydia, She had one hand on Jackson shoulder and Damion had a hand on his other. Danny was holding hands with Stiles, and Stiles other arm was on Scott's shoulder. Derek had a hand on Stiles shoulder and Danny and Jackson were bumping fists.

Damion clean the last of the brushes he had used and looked at the pair or Paintings. He hoped that Derek would like them. He had wanted to give Derek two new memories, untouched by tragedy or struggle. Two perfect still moments where he hoped his mate could find the peace that he felt Derek deserved.


End file.
